Kaylee & Co.: Diamond Backs

I don't know what's up with us lately, but we have been doing some fun stuff...and totally last minute. This is not very typical of Rand, as he is a big time planner (already has a babysitter lined up for this next weekend so we can catch a flick). Friday night we decided that maybe we would take the kids to the baseball game the next day. We had 2 for 1 coupons and decided we would just go. Neither of the boys had ever been before. (I can't believe we didn't catch a spring training game since we live about 10 mins from the Peoria Sports Complex, home of the beloved Seattle Mariners spring training facility. Well Rand wouldn't say "beloved" probably, but most of my NW readers would.)
So, Saturday we left early for the 5:10 game. We found out we could bring in our own food and drinks and hit the grocery store first so that we wouldn't have to spend $50 dollars on a couple of hot dogs. We got to the stadium around 3:00 which gave us plenty of time to watch some batting practice and find the kids play area. We got cheap parking close to the stadium because we were there so early and got our nose-bleed tickets. We got through the gates and received 4 bobble heads. Sweet! We came on bobble head night! Bummer, we had to carry around 4 boxes with us.
First things first, we walked down to the field and watched some hitting. The boys loved it. They just didn't understand why they couldn't get out on the field and hit some balls too. They both decided that when they were 14 years old they would be on the field hitting and we would be watching them. Cool.
After watching for a while we went upstairs and found the kids play area. There was a batting cage (a miniature field) for the little kids, a batting cage with a pitching machine for the older kids, a grassy area for the kids to run around and a big play set with slides and places for climbing. They went on the play set first. It was soo much fun because there weren't that many people there and they could just play and play. Then Brendan and Wyatt took a turn at bat with the whiffle balls. After that they ran around the grassy area and practised sliding.
Sounds great, right?
Well this is where things went bad.
We knew our seats were super high. No problem, we really didn't mind. As we were walking around to the other side of the stadium where our seats were, we noticed that the field was getting brighter and brighter. We looked closer and realised that they were opening up the roof. And low and behold, we are in the section of seats facing the sun.....at the top of the stadium which would be last to receive shade. UGH!!! Note: this was the hottest day we have had all summer so far....around 100 degrees and it was about 4:30 in the afternoon. (It has since been hotter, up to 109 today and tomorrow.)
So we climbed the mountain of stairs slowly, gripping the hand of our kids and carrying a backpack full of food and water AND four boxes of bobble heads. We sat down, wiped the sweat from under our sunglasses and tried to see the field below the intense glare of the sun that was about eye-level. The kids were hungry, so we got out the food and ate in the blazing heat. Our entire section started chanting, "Close the roof! Close the roof! Close the roof!" Amen! What were they thinking?? Our tickets should have cost us about 2 dollars. The kids were getting cranky and I was getting beyond cranky.....more like extremely ticked. We finished eating, packed everything up and decided to go back to the play area for a couple hours until that sun was gone.
We got to the play area and it was a mad house. Kids everywhere! There was a big line to get into the play area so we got in line. They were only letting about 10 kids in at a time and there was no time limit. Parents were just putting there kids in and then turning around and watching the game. I was pretty peeved. The kids and I waited patiently in line as it slowly moved forward. I swear we waited about a half hour and finally we were next. Brendan went through and I put Wyatt down and the "guard" said, "Is he three?" "Almost" I said. "Well, he can't come in unless he is three." I was speechless. I really couldn't believe it. I picked up poor Wyatt and carried him out of the crowd and tried to explain to him he wasn't old enough to play. IT WAS AWFUL! He had already been in there and so he really didn't understand. I let Brendan play for a bit and then pulled him out and thought we could just go over to the grassy area and run around. We went over, Wyatt ran in and they stopped Brendan and told him he couldn't come in because he was taller than the sign. I'm not kidding, he was maybe an inch taller than their sign. Again, no one had said anything earlier. So Wyatt ran around a bit and Brendan had to wait. In the meantime, some kid had pooped on the floor and people had been stepping in it and dragging it all over the area we were standing. I am almost in tears because of how terrible this is turning out and Rand and I were looking at each other, seriously considering leaving and never coming back.
We looked across the field and noticed that almost all the seats over there were in the shade so we decided to give it another go as far as watching the baseball game. We ended up having a really good time the rest of the night. The boys got into all the clapping and yelling, "Let's go D-backs! Let's go D-backs!" We ate peanuts and had a fun time in the warm shade at the top of the ball park. After the game Trace Atkins came out and gave a concert, so we didn't even have to deal with the end of the game rush. We listened to a couple songs and went home.
So if someone asked me how the game was, I would have to say, "good, bad, really bad and good again." I'm glad we didn't leave and that it all ended on a good note.
As always, here's some pics.

Before they opened the roof...